Lamb beneficiary of Reds' extra time off

CINCINNATI -- Tuesday's rainout, plus Thursday's scheduled off-day, proved beneficial in one aspect for the Reds' rotation. Not only will starters get some extra rest, one particular starter will get extra time so he doesn't have to be skipped because of an injury.

John Lamb has been dealing with a left thumb strain that forced him from his start on Sunday. Lamb, originally slated to pitch on Saturday at Philadelphia, is now scheduled to pitch on Monday at Cleveland. After being shut down for a couple of days, he played catch on Wednesday.

CINCINNATI -- Tuesday's rainout, plus Thursday's scheduled off-day, proved beneficial in one aspect for the Reds' rotation. Not only will starters get some extra rest, one particular starter will get extra time so he doesn't have to be skipped because of an injury.

John Lamb has been dealing with a left thumb strain that forced him from his start on Sunday. Lamb, originally slated to pitch on Saturday at Philadelphia, is now scheduled to pitch on Monday at Cleveland. After being shut down for a couple of days, he played catch on Wednesday.

"We do have the freedom now to move him down in the rotation into a better place," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "It will give him time to have another game of catch, throw a bullpen and ensure the fact that he's going to be ready to go in Cleveland."

Following Thursday's day off, the reconfigured rotation will have Brandon Finnegan pitch on Friday vs. the Phillies, followed by Tim Adleman on Saturday and Dan Straily on Sunday. In Cleveland, Lamb will be followed by Alfredo Simon on Tuesday.

Lamb, who is two starts in from his return from offseason back surgery, is hopeful that his thumb will be ready in time for him to pitch by Monday.

"Moving forward, it's better and better each day," Lamb said. "I'm not extremely happy with the fact that I can't spin the curveball right now ... that's just pick my battles. I'm happy I could throw and get the arm moving. I certainly don't hope to miss much moving forward, if any."

If Lamb isn't ready by Monday, it's possible he could be pushed back one more day to Tuesday.

"Beyond that, we need five starters, which he is one. That is the best we can do," Price said. "You kind of like to make sure everybody is able to take advantage of the off-days and the rainouts to get an extra day. We're not big fans -- most pitching coaches aren't -- of going more than a single extra day.

For a guy like Adleman, he'll have a week between outings. Lamb will have a week in between outings, or seven days of off time. That's just out of necessity because of the rainout and off-day. We're also trying to break up [lefties] Finnegan and Lamb. We'll see. I'm optimistic [Lamb] is going to be OK."

Rodriguez has slowed progress

On the disabled list since Spring Training, outfielder Yorman Rodriguez remains at extended spring in Arizona. Rodriguez, who has a left hamstring strain, started playing in some games but had to stop.

"His legs got tired and heavy, and he had some aches or pains and whatever," Price said. "He wasn't able to carry the workload we had assigned him. From the last injury report, he's feeling much better as of yesterday. He should be re-invested in playing in some games soon."